Actually, it’s called a “sting”. A rimshot is the sound of hitting the rim of a snare drum. A sting is a short roll followed by a drum chord which could include a cymbal, a snare drum (which could be a rimshot), or a bass drum… whatever the drummer has available.

yes but it could also be a tear of pain. if you look at the slanted eyebrow and her hand to the side of her face. it rules out sadness (although she could be sad from learning that her author is fake, Blackmage835) or it could be from pain or anger….poor Grape

but… she’s only taking the credit because her pet wants her to… ya can’t really blame her, her pet is incredibly shy and gifted, ya can’t just let talent like that go to waste, you’ve gotta help it blossom into something more.

But Grape’s anger is totally irrational, it’s like saying a famous book about people and their journey sucks because it was written by a human.

we don’t really know if Res *really* wanted his/her owner to publish the Prideland books under her name or if the woman bullied the shy Res into thinking it so. For all we know the cat was completely fine writing this make-believe fantasy about strong lions and whatnot and the owner, sensing it could be good money, published it under her name.

Besides, even if there would’ve been no other way to see it published, would it be so much to ask to put a few words thanking her cat for “inspiration”, at the very least?

sometimes you have to be careful with what you write in the acknowledgements section, especially if the real author is trying to stay completely anonymous… besides, it’s not just the shy cat we’re dealing with here, after all, Res did say that she does the editing for “us”, implying more than one individual, so we don’t know the whole story yet. That, and Res has, like myself, an introverted personality, the key here being that Extroverts have an easy time formulating their thoughts on the fly, and don’t often slip up in conversation, while introverts take longer to formulate a response, due to their leniency towards finding the perfect answer, instead of an answer that fits, and in real conversation may mean to say something, but end up saying something else entirely because they aren’t thinking about those answers that fit, only that perfect one, and given the immediate responses that are needed in real conversation, Introverts are often left without the time to bring that perfect answer to light. This is something that is hard to overcome, as they must learn what comes naturally to everyone else; how to be extroverts in conversation, using responses that simply fit the idea they wish to portray, but once they do, they become more likely that a normal extrovert to actually come up with a perfect response on the fly, and while learning to be one, they often lose the fear of pausing to think up the proper responce, which makes them look “shy” to everyone else. *rambles on*

But is it a tear of anger or a tear of sadness. She maybe sad that Res, her new found friend, is being used by the human. There was something going on earlier with Res on the computer. Writing the new book on the Pridelanders???

I think that she/he was speaking of themselves and their owner. since the owner takes credit, she’s not just editing for Rez, she’s editing for herself. so as one of those two, “she’s editing for us.” That or Rez may see it as truly a collaborative effort, and thus she’s editing for ‘us’.

Well…I do. Doesn’t mean I won’t ACCEPT some cookies. The Cannon’Ds are for if I were to lose. Consider it an act of sore-loserness. ^^ XD + everyone else bet cookies. meaning since we won, we gets the cookies. NOW START SHARING or Get Cannnon’D. >:D

well, Res didn’t want all the attention and scandal involved in writing a famous book series, but she wanted to write a famous book series. so she writes thee books, lets her owner publish and do all the hard work, and they (hopefully) split the money.

Am I the only one that thinks Res being the real author of Pridelands is a bit too cliche and predictable? Yeah Yeah I know, the “you don’t understand, I asked her to…” line is clearly alluding to Auburn not being as mean or abusive to Res as this arc makes her out to be (so far), but still, this is something you can see coming a mile away the second Res revealed that she is his/her owner and “demands perfection”. I was hoping for something a bit more original.

Not really, it’s actually a bit of a twist because for once the ideas we were kicking around actually panned out in the comic. And actually now none of us have any idea what’s going to happen next so this is where the fun and/or drama really begins.

I think most folks suspected that Res wrote the books, but it seems that more than he does since he says “she does the editing for us”. Also Res seems to be the one to have asked her to be the public face for the group.

It’s also possible that Res was referring to him/herself and Ms. Auburn as a pair when he said that. That is to say: “She does the editing for herself and me [us].” It’s a little awkward, but it is correct grammatically, and Res is nothing if not awkward.

Well also they only saw it coming as I spent this arc whittling down the options until there were only a few left. I’m still trying to hone in on that sweet spot between “curveball out of nowhere” and “telegraphed twist”. I know I’ve hit it a few times but that seems to make people expect just that much more.

Great, now we have even more predictions in line; you just narrowed a realm of possibilities that was already there, while at the same time, distributing the possibilities almost fairly evenly that we’re forced to make it hard on ourselves to believe in just one possibility…

predicting the outcome doesn’t mean it’s bad. I honestly like predicting comics alot because it makes it fun. not that it makes me feel any better, but just to see how many people have the same opinion in the end.

Even if it’s predictable anyway, i enjoy the execution that the comic has more. you can’t predict the art as they say =P

Please tell me that a cat isn’t responsible for the #1 cat-book for all cats in the history of cat-hood. That just wouldn’t make any sense!
that being said, I love how the author’s identity was revealed. The twists are only as awesome as the execution.
Thanks for putting up with us, Rick.

There was no cake but Grape gave that owner a slice of her mind. Just when Res was opening up, the poor cat might go back being self-conscious. Hopefully this isn’t the last time we’ll see Res. Aww Grape, she needs a cup full of Max and a dash of Peanut to cheer her up.

I saw most of all this coming… I Canz zee ze future, but I don;t know what is coming now…
I kind of feel bad for Grape, I know how it feels to get betrayed like that. I hate people taking other’s credit… Disloyal, lying idiots, I just can’t tolerate them.
Like always, I can’t wait for the next strip !
Anyway, Christmas is almost here, 5 MORE DAYS!!!

Why do I get surprised at anything in this world anymore? … Oh yeah cuz it’s just genious! XD I really didn’ see THAT one coming, my old forseeing days are long over by now… never got anything right back then to begin with, but still.
But the last panel, it’s just so sweet, poor lil grape. Can’t wait for the rest of the arc. :3

Hold on, Between this comic and the one before, how did Grape figure that out? I know how everyone else figured it out (I won twenty bucks), but still I don’t see how she could have found out. Not that quickly at least.

It’s probably the worst possible scenario that she likely could think of now that she knows Miss Auburn is Res’s owner and that Miss Auburn expects perfection from Res. There’s also something about his facial expression and body language in panel 1 of today’s strip is indicating something which causes Grape to ask Res whether or not a cat actually wrote the books. In her statement to him, she really captures the basics of her logic: it’s a series of books that very precisely captures feline experiences, to the point that now that she knows Miss Auburn has a cat (who is, even at the book signing, typing) becomes the most logical conclusion to reach.

I bet an internet that the easily embarrassed cat asked the dapper debonair human to keep it a secret because of, well, the embarrassment. Res, Res, why are you hiding in the bushes like Cyrano, letting your best friend woo the world? What will you do now Grape has blown your cover?

I think you’re making the all-too-common mistake of confusing “things I don’t like” for “evil”. It’s entirely possible to be a jerkwad (which is also supposition based on insufficient evidence, in this particular case) without being evil.

Uh…. does nobody notice that Res started to say he didn’t mind? I mean I believe he’s being exploited but I don’t think we exactly have the whole story guys. I still feel for Grape and everything but as my father told me, judge slowly.

A good editor can be very demanding and always pushing an author to do better.
This is one of the reasons it is very difficult to edit your own work(another reason is that it is not easy to look at your own work with a fresh set of eyes).

Even with the best of intentions it would be hard to keep some of that from bleeding over into other relationships between the author and editor. I would not want to be a pet to my editor, especially one who believes strongly in deadlines.

I would suspect that the next step is for Res to show up at Grapes house to explain how Auburn is the face person because that was the only way to get the books published, and that aside from being a typical editor when it comes to the books, she is always very nice to him/them.

As a side effect this would introduce Res and Auburn to the alternate lifestyle community where pets have greater autonomy, they may even decide they want to move there…

Sheesh, Grape. Beating up Res’s owner for doing something Res asked her to do is totally a reasonable response… for someone who can talk to other people like they’re “her best friend” right away, she sure doesn’t listen well.

I was 2 fur 2 on speculations on this arc…now I wish I wasn’t
…I especially hate to see Grape cry, of all the pets… Hasn’t her life been hard enough as it is?…well, prior to being adopted into the Sandwich Home anyway.

I’m hoping this arc has a happy ending…although, the previous Christmas arc, with King, didn’t exactly have one… -_-;
I trust Rick’s judgment on this one.

At this point, I’m sort of dreading to see what comes next. The name “Res” sets off alarm bells. “Res” is Latin for “thing” — a non-person. That’s a disturbing name for a literate person to give a pet.

the less rough translation to latin, if i’m not off my mark, is also not only a subjective for “thing” or “it”, but also was used as an insult in dismissal of a person. lovely little added touch, and wonderful foreshadowing, can’t wait to see more on this character.

It looks like Res’ was saying he asked his owner to take credit for the work, presumably because he’s a shy introvert, and didn’t want to deal with people, as a published author would need to…

… On the other hand, maybe it’s just that no-one would publish a book that they knew was written by a cat, which (given the intelligence of animals in this setting) certainly would be a very good reason to range — just not necessarily at Res’ owner herself.

Well, when it comes down to it, is anger ever really rational? As far as reasons to be angry go, finding out that an author who was practically a personal hero to you was actually stealing credit for some other poor person’s work seems like a pretty good one, even if storming off before you got to hear the full story isn’t really the best idea…